16 accidents of McDonnell Douglas aircraft since 2000

The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 operated by UPS (United Parcel Service) took off from Louisville, KY for a cargo flight to Honolulu, HI, USA. 3 crewmembers were onboard. The plane was accelerating for takeoff when the aircraft impacted ground and came to a rest at an approximate position about 0.6 NM (1km) past the runway end bursting into flames. All three occupants perished. There are 10 fatalities and 11 injuries on the ground.

The McDonnell Douglas MD-83 operated by Caspian Airlines took off from Tehran, Iran, for a passenger flight to Mahshahr, Iran. 136 passengers and 8 crewmembers were onboard. The plane overran the end of the runway after landing on Mahshar's airport, broke through the airport perimeter fence and came to a stop 90 meters beyond the paved end of the runway stopway in the middle of a road. There were no injury, but the aircraft received substantial damage.

The McDonnell Douglas MD-10 operated by Fedex Federal Express took off from Memphis, TN, USA for a cargo flight to Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA. 2 crewmembers were onboard. The plane crash landed at Fort Lauderdale airport and the left hand engine burst in flames. There were no injury, but the aircraft received substantial damage. The plane performed an uneventful flight and approach normally to Fort Lauderdale airport. Crew members reported that the approach was stable and a normal landing occurred. They also reported that there had been no problem with the landing gear during the flight. Investigation shows that 12 seconds after the aircraft touched down normally on the runway, the left main gear collapsed. This lead the left engine and left wingtip to contact the ground, causing a rupture of the fuel lines and the left wing fuel tank. Fuel from the left wing ignited as the aircraft rolled down the runway, the fire continued after the aircraft came to a stop partway off the runway. A few seconds later, an explosion occurred in the vicinity of the left hand engine. Both flight crew members escaped through the right hand cockpit window using the escape rope and did not report any injuries. The aircraft had accumulated 84,589 flight hours in 35,606 flight cycles since its manufacture in 1972.

The MD-83 operated by Swiftair on behalf of Air Algerie took off from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, for a passenger flight to Algiers, Algeria. 112 passengers and 6 crewmembers were onboard. The plane was enroute over Mali near Gao about 50 minutes into the flight when contact with the aircraft was lost. The plane crashed near Gossi, Mali, in a desert area. All 118 occupants were killed. The plane was operated by Spanish airline Swiftair, which owns the plane. The plane took off uneventfully. After around 50 minutes of flight, while cruising over Mali, the pilots sent a message to ask Niger air control to change its route because of strong weather in the area. Heavy storm were prevailing in the area. Then the MD-83 vanished from radar screens. The plane crashed Southeast of the city of Gossi, about 50km north of the border Burkina Faso/Mali and about 100km southwest of Gao The wreckage was found more than 15 hours later in North Mali, close to the Algerian border.

The Lufthansa Cargo MD-11F was performing a cargo flight from Frankfurt, Germany, to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 2 crewmembers and 80 tons of goods were onboard. The freighter crashed while landing at Riyadh airport. The captain received minor injuries, and the first officer has been seriously injured. The plane is damaged beyond repairs. The MD-11F approached Riyadh airport, and hard-landed on runway 33L. The aircraft bounced on the first touchdown. This first touchdown was followed by two touchdowns. On the 3rd touchdown (g-load: 4.4g), the fuselage aft of the wing ruptured. This caused the fuel line to the #2 engine (central engine) and the APU to rupture. Fuel spread within the main gear area and ignited. The aircraft eventually ran off to the left of the runway, where the nose gear collapsed and the flight crew declared a Mayday. The airplane came to a stand still on soft ground just off the left hand runway edge. The two pilots exited the plane using emergency escape slides. Fire fighters were able to extinguish the fire that broke out in the centre area of the aircraft, front and rear portion were visibly not consumed by the fire.

The Mc Donnell Douglas MD-11F cargo plane, operated by Zimbabwe-based Avient Aviation, took off from Shanghai, China, bound for Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan. Seven crewmembers were onboard to perform this cargo flight. The plane crashed during take-off. Three crew members were fatally injured and four survived the accident. The cargo plane accelerated on the runway to take off. When it started to lift off, the aircraft's tail struck the ground. The plane veered off the runway, smashed into a storage building, and burst into flames. Several firemen were needed to overcome the dense black smoke and the fire.

The McDonnell Douglas MD-11F operated by FedEx departed Guangzhou, China on a cargo flight to Tokyo-Narita, Japan. The MD-11 landed in high winds. Two crewmembers were onboard (the captain and the first officer). The plane crashed on landing at Tokyo airport, killing both crewmembers. While landing on runway 16R/34L, the airplane bounced on first touchdown, then dropped from 50-100 ft onto the nosewheel at which point, the plane rapidly banked to the left. The port wing impacted the ground and a fire erupted. The MD-11 rolled further onto its back and slid off the runway. A bright orange fireball and black billowing smoke engulfed the plane as it flipped and skidded off the runway. Firefighters sprayed foam onto the broken remains of the plane with its wheels in the air. Strong winds gusts up to 75 km/h (40 kts) were lashing the airport area at the time of the crash, and that it had warned airlines of wind shear (sudden change in wind direction that can destabilize a plane). It is probable the plane encountered a wind-shear that caused the MD-11 to dive just before touching down, then hit violently the runway, bounced, and destabilized the plane.

The McDonnell Douglas MD-82 belonging to the Spanish airline Spannair was on a passenger flight from Madrid, Spain, to Las Palmas, Spain (Canaria). 162 passengers and 10 crewmembers were onboard. The plane crashed on takeoff and caught fire. A total of 154 people were killed, and 18 people escaped alive, with minor or severe injuries (mainly burns). The flight had a scheduled departure time of 13:00, and left the gate shortly afterwards, but the fatal take-off run occurred nearly two hours later. The first take-off attempt had to be aborted after technical issues: an air intake sensor had detected overheating while the jetliner was taxiing, causing the plane to turn back and resulting in an inspection of the plane. Technicians corrected the problem by essentially turning the gauge off, according to the standard accepted aircraft procedure (the device was not on a list of equipment that must be working for a flight). A few minutes later, the aircraft had been released for flight. The plane attempted a second take-off from runway 36L of Madrid-Barajas airport. The acceleration on the runway was rather long. The Spanair MD82 plane managed to rise only slightly from Madrid's airport before coming down quickly to the right of the runway, its tail section hitting the ground first with the right wing tip, just off the asphalt. Then the out-of-control plane skidded and bounced at least three times as it careered 1,200 meters (3,840 feet) across uneven terrain and exploded. It finally came to rest in a gulley. The plane being at the beginning of its journey was full of fuel, which contributed to inferno.

The MD-83 was leased by Atlasjet airline from Istanbul-based World Focus Airlines. It departed Istanbul, Turkey, for a passenger flight to Isparta, Turkey, with 50 passengers and 7 crewmembers onboard. The plane crashed by night in mountainous terrain a few minutes before landing at Isparta airport. There are no survivors. A few seconds before the accident, the pilot had informed the Isparta airport’s control tower that the landing strip was in sight and descent was proceeding normally. The air traffic controller instructed them to continue their approach. But then, the aircraft disappeared from the radar screen. The plane's wreckage was found five hours later on a 1,830-metre (6,003-foot) hill called Turbe Tepe (Shrine Peak), near Cukuroren village, some 12 kilometres (7 miles) from Isparta airport. The fuselage and wings of the aircraft were torn apart and pieces of metal and bodies, some still in their seats, were scattered across the area. The McDonnell Douglas-83 crashed in an area that was outside its flight path, but it is still unknown why the plane veered off course. It is suspected the plane's tail hit a hilltop and that the MD-83 fell on its fuselage with the force of the impact.

The MD-82 belonging to One-Two-Go airline departed Bangkok, Thailand, for a domestic service to Phuket, Thailand. The jet was carrying 123 passengers and seven crew members when it left Bangkok. The aircraft crashed as it attempted to land at its destination airport in bad weather. It was raining at Phuket when the MD-82 approached the airport, and the visibility was very poor. On landing the airplane skidded off the side of the runway, broke into two and ended into trees. The plane was then engulfed in smoke and fire and caught fire. 89 people onboard were killed, and several others injured. Some victims died of fire; some were thrown out of the airplane. The causes of the accident are unknown yet. While the plane was on final approach, the control tower warned the crew of a treacherous wind shear at the airport, but the pilot decided to land anyway. The wind-shear (sudden change in wind direction that can destabilize a plane) had probably caused the aircraft to dive and hit the runway. Then, heavy rains could have contributed to the plane skidding off the runway. The pilot had reportedly asked to abandon the landing and circle around again because he could not see the runway, but the plane was already too low.

The aircraft was on a passenger flight from Panama City, Panama to Fort de France on the Caribbean Island of Martinique. The crew announced intentions to divert to Caracas. Then the aircraft began a rapid descent, and crashed into mountainous terrain some 20 miles from the Colombian border with Venezuela. According to the DFDR (Digital Flight Data Recorder) and CVR (Cockpit Voice recorder), the aircraft would have descended nose up. The crew was talking about weather conditions, and discussed possible icing conditions. The crew also thought about enabling wings and engines anti-ice devices. Analysis of the debris showed that both engines exhibited indications of high-speed compressor rotation at the time of impact, which enabled investigators to conclude that the engines were not previously damaged. The investigation shows that the cause of the crash is a combination of several human errors and bad weather conditions. The aircraft was overloaded by 6000 lb (about 2,5 tons), and weighted 155 000 lb at the beginning of cruise. Moreover, the weight was inadequately balanced. Therefore, the plane was more difficult to fly. Then, during cruise, the aircraft entered into a thunderstorm, with severe icing conditions. The engines iced, leading to a loss of thrust. Build-up of ice on wings may have also happened, which would have resulted in a decrease of the aircraft performance. The first officer immediately requested to engage the de-icing, but the captain did not take his request into account. Note that the first officer was inexperienced compare to the captain. Finally, the aircraft began to lose altitude. The crew then made a real mistake when they decided to switch off the auto-pilot. Indeed, the autopilot features a pitch correction function, which helps to fly the plane in this situation. Just after the auto-pilot disconnection, the MD82 stalled. It crashed 50 seconds later. Details about aircraft icing This kind of severe icing can occur when aircraft fly into particular weather conditions (for example, in a cloud of supercooled water droplets). Ice accretion on the wing leading edge may occur. Airflow disruption will reduce the maximum lift coefficient attainable by as much as 30% – 50%, thus raising the stalling speed considerably. And because the aircraft has to fly at a greater angle of attack to maintain lift, the induced drag also increases and the aircraft continues to lose airspeed, making it impossible to sustain altitude if the stall is to be avoided. The weight of the ice is also particularly constraining.Air data probes may also iced, which leads to misleading airspeed indications.Finally, the engine air intake may also be impacted by icing, leading to a loss of power and a possible engine overheating. An aircraft is usually designed to prevent and overcome the icing phenomenon. But in rare cases, the weather conditions are beyond the aircraft qualification conditions. In 1994, an ATR72 crashed near Chicago. Holding in ice for over an hour, the ice built up to the point that the aircraft became completely uncontrollable and spiralled to the ground.

The MD-82, on a passenger flight from Jakarta, with an intermediate stop in Surabaya, to Solo (Indonesia). On landing at Solo, the plane overran the runway, crashed through the airport perimeter fence, and came to rest in a graveyard. The forward portion of the fuselage was heavily damaged, and consumed by fire. 26 out of the 153 people onboard died.

The aircraft, on a scheduled cargo flight from Oakland, California, to Memphis International Airport, crashed while attempting to land on runway at Memphis. For undetermined reasons, the freighter's landing gear failed, and the aircraft skidded approximately 3,000 feet, off the runway, coming to rest at a 90° angle to the runway heading. The aircraft was consumed by fire. One crewmember was slightly injured, the other six escaped uninjured.

The aircraft was on a passenger flight from Beijing (China) and Dalian (China). The MD-82 was due to land at Dalian Airport at 9:40pm local time. At 9:20, the Captain reported a 'cabin fire' to air traffic controllers, and four minutes later, at 9:24, radio contact was lost as the aircraft disappeared from radar. The aircraft crashed into the Yellow Sea about 6 miles (10 kilometers) off the Dalian coast. A few months later, the Chinese government issued a report which blamed the crash on a fire started intentionally by a passenger, who was a terminally ill cancer patient. Before the flight, this passenger reportedly purchased seven flight insurance policies totalling more than 1.5 million RMB ($187,500 US Dollars). Additionally, investigators searching his apartment found a number of mineral water bottles filled with gasoline. All 112 passengers and crew members were killed in the accident.

The Scandinavian MD-87 was on a passenger flight from Milan (Italy) to Copenhagen (Denmark). It was cleared to taxi to Runway 36R (Linate Airport, Milan) for departure. At approximately the same time, a German Cessna Citation II business jet, was cleared to taxi from the General Aviation ramp via taxiway Romeo 5. The Citation mistakenly entered taxiway Romeo 6, entered runway 36R, and at that point was impacted by the Scandinavian MD-87, which had been cleared for takeoff. Both aircraft broke up, skidded to the right of the active runway, and impacted an airport baggage hangar, which partially collapsed. Weather at the time of the accident was reported as "heavy fog" with a Runway 36R RVR (Runway Visual Range) of 225 meters. 118 passengers and crew members perished in the Scandinavian MD-87, and 4 people were killed in the Citation.

The aircraft was on a passenger flight from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to San Francisco, California, when the crew reported that they were encountering problems with the stabilizer trim. At 28,000 feet, the crew reported that they were unable to control the pitch of the aircraft. Descending through 23,000 feet, the crew reported that they had regained control, declared an emergency, and received vectors to land at Los Angeles International Airport. The last radio contact with the crew came as the aircraft passed 17,000 feet at an unusually slow speed of 119 knots. A park ranger, along with the pilots of a nearby aircraft, reported seeing the aircraft plummet into the Pacific Ocean in an inverted flight attitude. The probable cause is the loss of airplane pitch control resulting from the in-flight failure of the horizontal stabilizer trim system jackscrew assembly's acme nut threads. The thread failure was caused by excessive wear resulting from Alaska Airlines' insufficient lubrication of the jackscrew assembly.